Film

Squirm

Name: Squirm
Genre: Horror
Released: 1976
Cast: Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean

Monster horror
Very dark

A 1976 creature feature where an electrical storm mutates earthworms into carnivorous monsters terrorizing a small Georgia town. Squirm embraces practical grotesquerie and B-movie sincerity with genuine suspense and unsettling practical effects. It's for anyone who loves creature horror that commits fully to its premise without winking at the camera.

TMDb rating

2.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy old-school creature features played with a straight face, where the slimy practical effects and the sleepy small-town setting feel like the real menace.

Skip it if you need sharp pacing or a tidy plot, since the story is loose, the logic is thin, and the rain-soaked gore can look very dated to modern eyes.

What it asks of you: Ninety-two minutes, brisk and unpretentious, with long stretches of rain-lashed waiting broken by sudden, grisly bursts; patience is rewarded with earnest, absurd creature-feature charm.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Piranha1978

Joe Dante's creature feature has the same gleeful commitment to practical monster mayhem, rapid-fire attacks, and a small community under siege. Equally fun and genuinely tense, with real craft behind the carnage.

But The tone is sometimes campy in ways that undercut the horror. If you want sustained dread rather than thrills-and-laughs, it plays lighter than Squirm.

The Lair of the White Worm1988

Ken Russell's baroque creature horror has the same commitment to practical body horror and ecological nightmare, but pushes further into surrealism and sexual nightmare. Wildly imaginative creature design that lodges in your brain.

But Russell's sensibility is arch and hallucinatory where Squirm stays grounded. If you want coherent plotting, this will feel deliberately obtuse.

Tremors1990

A underground-creature siege film with inventive practical effects, genuine scares, and a perfect balance of humor and tension. It respects the premise and executes it with real intelligence and craft.

But It's fundamentally a comedy first, which changes the emotional register entirely. Much lighter in tone despite the body count.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Squirm

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Phenomena1985

Both use insects as the visceral core of horror, but where Squirm plays it as earnest creature-feature realism, Phenomena elevates the grotesque insect imagery into high-art surrealism. Same primal disgust, opposite aesthetic choice.

Dario Argento's giallo-horror hybrid uses insects (especially maggots) as the mechanism of body horror and murder investigation. Stunning cinematography, operatic violence, and a completely different cultural register—Italian horror at its most baroque and visually intoxicating.

But It's deeply weird, sexually charged, and proceeds on dream logic rather than narrative clarity. Not a creature-attack film but a stylized psychological nightmare.

The Swarm1978

Irwin Allen's killer bee film has the same 1970s disaster-movie earnestness and practical creature work. A massive ensemble cast faces nature weaponized, with real tension and elaborate set pieces.

But It runs nearly 150 minutes and sags in the middle. The pacing is ponderous compared to Squirm's tautness.

Bug1975

William Castle's underrated creature film shares Squirm's ecological horror bent—mutant cockroaches emerge from the earth after an earthquake. Atmospheric, genuinely unsettling, with practical insect effects that still unsettle.

But Slower and more meditative than Squirm. The pacing emphasizes creeping dread over action, which some find tedious.

Empire of the Ants1977

Another eco-horror film from the same era, with Joan Collins facing off against giant ants. Admirably committed to its practical effects and has real moments of genuine suspense despite its low budget.

But The dialogue is clunky and the giant ant effects are occasionally unintentionally funny. It doesn't quite hold together logically.

The Food of the Gods1976

Released the same year, this creature feature has Squirm's earnest practical-effects approach and ecological dread. Giant rats and insects rampage with real visceral impact from the effects work.

But The pacing is sluggish and the message heavy-handed. It's less tight and propulsive than Squirm.

Day of the Animals1977

A nature-gone-wrong film with ambitious set pieces and real animal action. It captures that 1970s eco-anxiety and has genuine moments of animal-attack intensity and suspense.

But The script is weak and the tone inconsistent. Long stretches feel padded, and the animal attacks sometimes feel staged.

The Nest1988

Both are low-budget creature features that use insects to explore human contamination of nature, but The Nest leans into cosmic weirdness and body-snatching paranoia rather than siege-movie tension. Same creature, different engine.

A cockroach-invasion film that shares Squirm's ecological-disaster premise and practical creature work, but plays it as genuine sci-fi body horror. Grotesque and committed, with surprisingly effective monster design and an ambitious scope.

But It's both cheaper-looking and weirder than Squirm, veering into trashy sci-fi. The plotting is scattered and the pacing uneven.